


with a bang and not a whimper

by limitlessskyes



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fallout, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Don't Have to Know Canon, F/M, I Don't Even Know, M/M, Not Fallout Canon Compliant, Post-Apocalypse, Slow To Update, i apologize ahead of time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-10 15:31:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8922607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/limitlessskyes/pseuds/limitlessskyes
Summary: JJ had once read a poem by T.S. Eliot that said the world would end with a whimper, not a bang. Looking back, JJ thought that poem was bullshit.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So. I started this a while ago. And I really have no excuse other than I'm a Fallout addict and I have a lot of fucked up ideas in my head. XD I figured I'd throw this up here in case anyone else likes weird AUs that no one asked for. It's a WIP soooo might be slow to update.
> 
> Also so not part of Fallout canon, and obviously I don't own anyone involved (except for Kilian) and I'm not making any money off of this. Leave a kudo or a comment if you liked it!

JJ had once read a poem by T.S. Eliot that said the world would end with a whimper, not a bang. Looking back, JJ thought that poem was bullshit.

The world had ended with a bang. Or rather, several bangs. All over the world. Nuclear warheads flying cross country, causing devastation wherever they landed. Wide swaths of land became irradiated wastelands, uninhabitable for even the hardiest life forms to exist, and what was left that wasn’t irradiated to hell and back wasn’t much better. Raiders, gunners, ghouls, super mutants, mutated animals; if you could think it, it mostly likely existed, and was far deadlier than anything that you had even began to imagine.

America was the worst. What had once been America was mostly just spots where survivors managed to scrape together what existence could be had. If you were lucky -- and luck nowadays was a subjective thing, especially in JJ’s opinion -- you could have ended up in one of the Vaults that were scattered across the country, provided to protect only the hand picked elite from the devastation that was happening above them. Or, if you were unlucky, which was far more likely than the alternative, you ended up in a Vault that was slated for some kind of experiment to test where the boundaries of humanity’s endurance lie. And if you had no luck at all, you were in the open when the bombs fell.

JJ had seen far too many of the other Vaults and too much of the outside world to know that he was one of the lucky ones. 

\-- 

JJ stood for Jaroslav Janus, though post-apocalypse, names could be a liability rather than the way you identified yourself. Say you took out the wrong person on a raid, and your name got thrown around in the wrong circles, and suddenly, you were fighting for your life no matter where you went. Then again, you were fighting for your life pretty much no matter what you did, so maybe names didn’t matter as much as JJ felt they did. It still didn’t stop JJ from introducing himself as “the goalie” to anyone new, and that stayed his name until he felt you deserved to know more than that. 

Home was a vault outside of Chicago. JJ still wasn’t sure how he and his family had been chosen to be a part of this vault, considering he hadn’t even been in the country when the news came through that they had been accepted. He had gotten a frantic, barely comprehensible call from Richard while visiting family in Slovakia with Nina and Kilian, saying that they had to get back home, something bad was going to happen and they had been selected to wait it out in the Vault. He had booked the first flight to Chicago that he could lay his hands on for the three of them. 

When they arrived, they were immediately shuttled from the airport to the vault, where Richard and several of their friends were already hidden away. The first few days had been nothing but confusion; there was no information on why they were there, they weren’t allowed to leave, no matter what, and there was no contact with the outside world. JJ had felt like he had spent more time trying to break up fights between Nina and Richard those first few days than anything else.

Richard and Nina were twins; the Panik twins, which in the apocalypse fit Richard to a T. Richard was not built to survive the end of the world. The lack of outside contact, the claustrophobic feeling of being underground, plus being in close quarters with his sister could result in some epic meltdowns on Richard’s part. 

Nina, however, was a whole different story. JJ sometimes wished he would run across one of those stupid “Keep calm and don’t panic.” signs for Nina while on a raid because that seemed to be her motto; partially because she thought panicking was just an easy way to die, but mostly just because she was a huge fan of irony. 

JJ was also in a relationship with both of them. They were who his world revolved around, especially after the bombs fell. Kilian had been a surprise a few years before the bombs, and had been the youngest person in the vault at the beginning, which also gave him the distinct position as the most popular person as well. He was well behaved and took anything that happened in stride. 

The terror that he had seen in his son’s eyes the night the bombs fell was something that JJ would never be able to forget. 

\--

In the days After The Bombs, information trickled in slowly, starting at the Overseer and slowly making it’s way to the rest of the populace. They had been chosen because somehow, they were tagged as some of their best hopes to continue humanity. The actual criteria that were used was never communicated to them. They were to stay inside the Vault and unable to leave under any circumstances. JJ had watched as they had sealed the door for the last time before the bombs fell, and now he couldn’t even recall what the sky had looked like before it closed. 

The rumors were running wild within the walls of the Vault. The more hysterical the rumor, the less JJ believed it, which is to say, he believed almost none of them. 

Little did he know, most of the rumors turned out to be true. 

\-- 

It had been five years since the world as they had known it had ceased to exist. The vault itself was self sufficient, with a farming wing, a clinic, a school, a weapons training room, and a cafeteria where they had group meals. There was even a room set aside as what passed for a playground for the children; Kilian was far from the only one at this point, and he was no longer the youngest either. At 8 years old, he was already shaping up to be a crack shot, and JJ had a sneaking suspicion it had everything to do with Nina, who was the best shot in the entire vault somehow. 

The first time the rad levels had dropped enough that those in charge deemed it safe enough to open the vault door had been a great day of celebration. Everyone had been excited and terrified in equal amounts to see what lay outside. The rumors that had swirled in the Days After had ranged from the overly optimistic to the worst case scenario. No one was sure who was going to be right. 

Turns out, it was worse than even the worst-case-scenario people had dreamed up. Chicago was gone. Lake Michigan had overtaken the city, filling in the crater that had been left when the bomb hit with irradiated water, wiping out a large chunk of the metropolitan area. JJ could still see parts of the city that were trying to cling to life, but it just looked like a death trap to him. 

Nina had stood next to him after everyone else, unable to take the view anymore, had gone back inside, her eyes wide as she surveyed around them. Richard had refused to come out to look. As much as he hated being underground, the idea of what was out there was worse. 

“Everyone’s gone, aren’t they?” Her words were hushed, almost as if she were afraid to speak too loud and disturb the ghosts of the lives they had lost. JJ curled his fingers through hers and sighed. 

“Maybe they got lucky, Ninke, like we did…” JJ’s voice trailed off, the unspoken thought between them that not everybody could have gotten that lucky. 

\--

“Have they been underground this entire time?” 

Marek was lying stretched out, his eye trained through the scope of his rifle, his finger lazily stroking against the trigger, debating whether or not he should put a bullet in the guy or the girl first. His eyes flickered over to Ondrej, who was lying next to him peering through his own scope; the only difference is that it didn’t seem Ondrej was debating shooting either one, his hands only keeping the rifle steady so he could watch them. They had been on a scavenging mission when the door of the vault had slid open and scores of people had spilled out, causing them to take cover. The majority had already gone back inside; only the two filling up Marek’s scope remained. His lip lifted in a sneer. 

“Looks like it, but who cares? We should be reporting back that we found a vault and bring a group back to raid it.” He muttered, his eyes drifting back to the scope. The man had a gun at one hip, and the woman had one at each hip, which was slightly surprising given they were remarkably clean, so they clearly didn’t have to venture outside often, if they ever had since the bombs fell. Marek doubted it, given the devastated looks on everyone’s faces as they had looked around. “They’re armed, so they probably have a weapons cache too.” 

“Why would they need weapons if they’ve been underground for five years?” Marek resisted the urge to sigh. Ondrej was a great shot and a good fighter but sometimes he could be really dense. 

“Why _wouldn’t_ you need weapons in the apocalypse, Ondrej?” He snarked, a frustrated tone creeping into his voice as the two people turned and made their way back into the vault, the door sealing behind them, the opportunity for a little target practice gone. Once he was sure the door was closed and no one would spot them, he got to his feet, turning to Ondrej as he did the same. “We need to get back and report this.” 

\-- 

JJ had been assaulted by questions from Kilian the moment he had come back into their room. Were there mutants everywhere? Did it look like the moon? What happened to all the animals? JJ had tried to answer each question as carefully as he could, not wanting to give away with his words how hopeless it had looked outside. Richard had looked on with a raised eyebrow, as if he could tell by JJ’s face that things were not as rosy as he was trying to make it seem for Kilian. 

By the time Kilian had exhausted his questions, a meeting had been called by the Overseer to decide what the population of the vault wanted to do now that the door was opened. JJ lounged against a wall at the back of the room, nodding in greeting to a few of his neighbors that trickled past him. Richard hovered nearby; Nina had stayed back in the room to keep Kilian distracted but had passed along her input to be given in the discussion. 

Peter meandered past, bumping fists with Richard as he passed. Peter, Richard, and JJ had become fast friends in the first few days after they were sealed into the vault. They were all around the same age, and as luck would have it, Peter was Slovakian as well. Marian was the other half of Peter. To most, they seemed like an odd couple; Marian was quite a bit older than Peter. JJ hadn’t blinked an eye, his own relationship had been strange even before the world ended. They were a good fit though, in his opinion. Marian clearly cared for Peter, and Peter liked to pretend he didn’t care but JJ knew better. 

The meeting started with a rush of questions from everyone, the Overseer trying to contain them at least to a manageable level. Most people wanted to know how they were going to defend themselves against raiders and looters who would be interested in a newly opened vault. Some wanted to know if they were going to form their own raiding parties to strike pre-emptively. JJ’s hand went up when the question was brought up about if there would be any volunteers for outdoor duty if it were needed, saying that Nina was volunteering as well even if she wasn’t able to attend the meeting; Richard scowled next to him and crossed his arms. JJ had tried to teach Richard how to handle a firearm, the lessons just never seemed to stick. 

Richard was...complicated. He hadn’t quite found his niche in the community yet, even after five years. He wasn’t good with children, with the exception of Kilian and that was touchy at the best of times. He was a horrible shot; the recoil made him jump every time. He couldn’t help in the farm because farming was dirty and even at the end of the world, Richard always made sure he looked his best. Now that the vault was open, JJ was hopeful they could find something that Richard could flourish at. 

“How bad was it out there? I know you were trying to sugar coat it for Kilian.” The hushed words came from Richard, his eyes scanning the room at all of the frightened faces. JJ sighed and spread his hands in a hopeless gesture. 

“It was bad. Chicago’s gone, nothing but a crater that Lake Michigan invaded because it could. It wasn’t as bad directly outside, but the closer you get to Chicago, the worse it gets.” JJ murmured, his arm curling across the small of Richard’s back and pulling him closer. 

“And you want to go out there?” If Richard was trying to hide the incredulity in his voice, he was doing a very bad job of it. JJ shrugged listlessly. 

“I wouldn’t say ‘want to’ would be accurate, but I’m able to, and so is Nina. You’ve seen how she is with a gun, and you try telling her she can’t go.” 

Richard snorted in amusement and nodded. “It’d be an easy way to find out just how good she is with that gun.” JJ laughed quietly as the meeting wound down, everyone starting to trickle for the doors. The Overseer would be passing out new work assignments by the end of the week once the logistics were figured out. 

Peter fell into step next to them as they headed back to their quarters. “You’re insane for wanting to go back out there.” 

“If I saw right, Marian’s hand went up too, you know,” JJ replied, his eyes flickering back to Marian with a grin. Peter’s face fell into something that JJ could only describe as a pout, while Marian just laughed and looped his arm across Peter’s shoulders.

“Well we already knew he was insane, I just had greater hopes that your self preservation instinct was better than his.” 

“If you think I’m going to stay cooped up in this cave for any longer than I have to now that we can go outside, you’re insane.” Marian countered with another laugh. JJ was of a similar mindset; they had been in the same place for five long years, and even if the world outside was a wasteland, it wasn’t the inside of the vault, and that was enough for JJ. 

“I’m with Peter. You both are crazy, and so is my sister.” Richard muttered, shaking his head. JJ just smiled and hit the button to open the door to their quarters, his smile widening when he saw Nina and Kilian curled around each other on their small couch, Kilian asleep in his mother’s lap while Nina sat reading a book, her fingers carding through Kilian’s dark curls. Her eyes flickered up from the book as the door opened, an eyebrow raising in question. 

“We won’t know for sure what’s going on for a few days, but you and I are volunteered for outside if need be.” JJ kept his voice low so as not to wake Kilian, before bending and kissing Kilian’s curls and Nina’s cheek as she nodded.

**Author's Note:**

> Working on a second chapter at the moment, so if you liked it, please let me know!


End file.
